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Cicognani weighs up Ducati’s Qatar fortunes

Posted on 10 April 2012

Ducati MotoGP Project Director Alessandro Cicognani picked over the bones of the opening round of the 2012 season in Qatar, after watching factory team riders Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi finish sixth and tenth respectively.

The duo experienced very different weekends, with Hayden qualifying fifth after finding a set-up on the Desmosedici GP12 that gave the American plenty to be content with. It was the Grand Prix debut of the new 1000cc machine and Hayden battled hard in a group that included Alvaro Bautista, Stefan Bradl and Hector Barbera to come out on top.

Rossi had a less positive outcome, qualifying in 12th and then experiencing some difficulties in the early stages of the race which also saw him run off track and lose positions before fighting back to finish the 22-lap contest in 10th.


Looking back over the weekend and the race, Cicognani said: “For the first race of the season for sure we were expecting a better race. Until Saturday, especially the practice sessions with Nicky, were good.

“We hoped to maintain fifth position, but in the end we took sixth with Nicky and Vale with the problem he had at the beginning was not able to come back. The gap is still big to the front guy and we just have to work hard to get back.

“The most positive thing is that we are not giving up at all. We fight back. Nicky had a hard battle during the race with the other riders fighting with him, and he was able to maintain the position. So we will try, we will work hard and we will do the best we can.”

Hayden was left slightly disappointed at not finishing higher than sixth, but was hugely satisfied with the work put into the bike over the off-season.

“I felt we had the potential to run with Dovizioso and Crutchlow, but considering my injuries and limited testing over the winter, I guess sixth is pretty good,” said the American. “We put some good points on the board, got some data and learned a lot from riding with other people.

“I’m excited for the season. I think if we improve some things, we have the potential to put up some good results. I’d like to thank the team, the sponsors and everybody back at Ducati for all their work, because we’ve clearly taken a step forward since last year.”

Rossi commented on how his race came undone on the opening laps, and said: “Unfortunately, I lost a lot of time in the beginning because when I had new tyres with good grip, the rear pushed a lot, making it very difficult under braking.

“Then Barbera pushed me off the track and I lost five or six seconds. Otherwise, I could have stayed with that group.”

Next up for the pair is the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, where Hayden scored a podium finish on the Desmosedici last season.

 

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Hayden sixth in Qatar Grand Prix, Rossi tenth

Posted on 10 April 2012

At the opening round of the MotoGP season, the Ducati Team earned a sixth-place finish with Nicky Hayden and tenth place with Valentino Rossi. The American didn’t get a great start, but his performance improved steadily as the laps ticked down, and he came out on top of a hard-fought battle with Alvaro Bautista, Stefan Bradl and Hector Barbera to finish in sixth place.
Having started from the twelfth spot on the grid after a difficult qualifying session, Valentino Rossi dealt with a number of problems but worked hard the entire race, eventually turning decent lap times.
The racing department in Bologna and the Ducati Team engineers will continue to develop the GP12 in an effort to make progress for the next Grand Prix, which will take place in Jerez, Spain, on April 27-29.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 6th
“I felt we had the potential to run with Dovizioso and Crutchlow, but considering my injuries and limited testing over the winter, I guess sixth is pretty good. I lost some positions at the beginning because I got hung up behind Spies and wasn’t very good on the brakes, but as the race went on, I managed my tyre well and got stronger. That group I was in was fighting hard, and I was happy to bring Bradl back and come out on top of that battle. We put some good points on the board, got some data and learned a lot from riding with other people. I’m excited for the season. I think if we improve some things, we have the potential to put up some good results. I’d like to thank the team, the sponsors and everybody back at Ducati for all their work, because we’ve clearly taken a step forward since last year.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 10th
“Unfortunately, I lost a lot of time in the beginning because when I had new tyres with good grip, the rear pushed a lot, making it very difficult under braking. Then Barbera pushed me off the track and I lost five or six seconds. Otherwise, I could have stayed with that group. As the tyre became used and began to slide, I started to ride a bit better and to do better times, to the point that I matched my best time on the last lap. By that point though, it didn’t count for much.”
Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager)
“It was a challenging weekend for our team, but we can also look at some positive aspects as we continue to focus on working with the still-young GP12. Valentino had a difficult qualifying session, and he had problems in the race, particularly in the early laps with fresh tyres. We must learn how to solve this, because in the end he posted some good times. Nicky felt more comfortable during practice, and today he rode with great determination, scrapping with Bautista, Bradl and Barbera to win the hard fight for sixth place. We’ll compare the data and the information we gathered from both riders in order to improve our bike for Jerez.”

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Fifth-best time for Hayden in Qatar qualifying, Rossi twelfth

Posted on 07 April 2012

The Desmosedici GP12 will start its debut Grand Prix on the second row tomorrow evening, with Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden having posted a top-five time in tonight’s qualifying session at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit. Teammate Valentino Rossi, after a trio of progressively improving free-practice sessions, encountered setup problems that prevented him from doing better than twelfth place.
While Nicky Hayden immediately felt at home with his bike’s setup and was able to log consistently good lap times even with the hard tyre, Valentino Rossi had a much different experience and didn’t find the same feeling that had enabled him to post better times on Friday.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 5th (1:55.637)
“Our goal tonight was to be in the top five, and I’m pleased that we achieved that. I did a 56.1 on a hard tyre and to be honest, I thought maybe I could do something really special with the soft, but all things considered, I think we did decently in our first qualifying session. We’ll see if we can come here and turn it into a result tomorrow night. Tyre life is going to be important, and since we’re using up the tyre a lot, we need to work on that. I still struggled a bit with chatter and understeer, especially in the fourth sector, where the corners are flat, but the GP12 is certainly the fastest Ducati I’ve ever ridden, which could come in handy in the race. I think it will be a hard race, but I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a big gap to the top two, but we’ll try our best to get a good start, get into that second group and fight like dogs to hold on. Hopefully we can leave here with something positive.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 12th (1:56.813)
“Yesterday was nothing fantastic but a lot better, especially with the used tyre, so my goal was to qualify on the second row. I’m very far from that target though, as the problems that we had before were worse. It’s very strange because we only made some small changes from yesterday, but the feeling was very different. After that we returned to yesterday’s setting and I went a little bit faster, but it wasn’t enough to significantly improve the result. I’m not sure what to expect for the race, but obviously, I hope to do better. Nicky made a different setup choice than ours and did a good session with both tyres, so now we’ll also look at his data and try to do better.”

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Ducati Team continues working with race setup in Qatar

Posted on 06 April 2012

The opening round of the 2012 MotoGP season continued this evening, with the second and third free practice sessions taking place at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit. Although the area was buffeted by fairly strong winds for much of the day, the surface grip improved compared to last night’s dusty conditions, forcing the riders and their teams to adapt their setups accordingly.
Both Nicky Hayden, seventh at the end, and Valentino Rossi improved their performances, with the Italian in particular working with the hard tyre, consistently lowering his times with the race setup. Only in the final exit did he mount a softer tyre, with which he posted the eighth-best time of the day.
Qualifying is scheduled for tomorrow evening, with the first race of the season to take place on Sunday night.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 7th (1:56.402)
“As the track is cleaning up, we’re getting more grip, but in a way that’s hurting us since I’m also getting more chatter. When that happens, I can’t keep my lean angle, and I run wide, especially in the flat corners. We tried some different springs but haven’t found the right solution yet. Chatter is so strange and inconsistent sometimes, but we’ll have a look at the data and do our best to sort it out. My pace isn’t great, but although I’m not thrilled with how the day went, the bike is certainly doing well on top speed, which is going to be important in the race.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 8th (1:56.535)
“Today went pretty well, and I’d say that the last session was the best. The position is nothing fantastic, but on the positive side, I’m very consistent with the hard tyre. The front of the bike is giving more feedback, so I can push more, which is very important, and the bike is very fast at the end of the straight. The understeer is still there, but now I think we have a place from which to work. We hope to improve two or three small things with the setting for tomorrow, and we’ll try to qualify on the second row.”

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